Cradle Making at the V&A Dundee
In this blog Conservation Technician Gemma Kelly from the National Library reports on a recent exhibition cradle making course hosted at the V&A Dundee. In December last year, I had the pleasure of attending a course…
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Preparing ‘The Ricardian’ for access – review of a conservation volunteering placement
A blog post by Elizabeth Hayslett, volunteer in University Collections. The history of the University of St Andrews spans over 600 years, and St Andrews University Collections holds and cares for much of the…
Research through survey: A book conservation project
In March earlier this year, I was honoured to visit the University Collections reading room at the University of St Andrews Library to explore some volumes in the collection which had been previously conserved. To give…
Electrifying Daguerreotypes
Rachel Nordstrom follows up here on her earlier post where she featured several of the daguerreotypes in the Library’s collections. Daguerreotypes are relatively rare in Scotland, and specifically so within the…
Defining the boundaries: protection through housing and minimizing handling
Within the Burgh of Cupar charters collection (B13) is a document dated 5 April 1487 recording the marking of the boundaries of land belonging to the Burgh of Cupar and that of George Claphaine of Kerslogy [Carslogie].…
Out of the ashes: framing the panel of reagents
Part of the Library’s Special Collections role in caring for its irreplaceable historic collections of rare books, photographs and archives is to develop and maintain an Emergency Response Plan. Our Emergency Response…
Get your boards on: A new method of board re-attachment for tight-back bindings
A tour around the rare books in the Library’s Special Collections reveals many volumes with bands of cotton tape tied around them. The white tying tape serves to warn staff that the ‘tied’ volume is physically damaged…
A Day in a Bookish Cornucopia: surveying books from the Library’s Special Collections
The University of St Andrews Library Special Collections Division routinely commissions practical conservation of damaged material from Icon-accredited conservators. As part of the division’s policy on conservation,…
Reviving Art: The process of conserving a manuscript
In this week’s blog, Fatima Al Dhaif, a student studying for an MA in Conservation at Camberwell College of Arts, London, shares her experience of working on the conservation and analysis of one of the manuscripts from…
Boxing the collections: a review of a two-day workshop on magnetic box-making
The Special Collections Division of the University Library has an ongoing programme of boxing and housing collection items in custom-made enclosures of acid and lignin-free papers and boards. These enclosures protect…